Religious tensions flared again in Malaysia in 2010 as the government struggled to maintain the country’s image of a diverse and tolerant society. The government itself, however, became embroiled in a dispute over Malaysian Christian groups’ use of the name Allah to refer to their God. Although the practice dated back generations in Malaysia, recently many Muslims had expressed the suspicion that Christians were referring to their God as Allah in a surreptitious attempt to convert Muslims, an illegal activity in Malaysia. In late 2009 the government confiscated 10,000 Bibles in which God was called Allah. Weeks later a Malaysian court ruled that a Roman Catholic newspaper could use Allah to refer to God in its Malay-language edition. The government appealed the decision, delaying implementation of the court’s ruling. The controversy spawned a series of attacks on Christian churches in January 2010. In August two men were found guilty of having committed “mischief by fire” in connection with the attacks and were given five-year prison sentences.

In response to a Malaysian court’s ruling that a Roman Catholic newspaper could use the name Allah …

Mark Baker/AP

Another internationally visible controversy surrounded the second sodomy trial of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. The trial began in February and proceeded fitfully through most of the year. As in his 1998 sodomy trial, the charges against Anwar were widely considered a naked attempt by the ruling United Malays National Organization to weaken the opposition, which had mounted a serious threat in the 2008 elections.

In 2010 the number of abandoned infants in Malaysia remained a significant issue. While the annual average was about 100, by August the number of abandoned babies already stood at 65. Many were dead by the time they were found. To help address the problem, in September officials in Malacca state opened a school for pregnant teenagers so that they could continue their studies without constant exposure to the powerful stigma attached to unwed motherhood in Malaysia.

Asia in 2010 led the way out of the global financial downturn, with Malaysia contributing strongly to the trend. Forecasters predicted economic growth of more than 5% for the year. In March, Bank Negara Malaysia, the country’s central bank, raised interest rates for the first time in nearly four years as economic activity rebounded. Interest rates were raised again in May and in July. In early October Malaysia opened free-trade talks with the EU. Also that month the government announced an investment of 47.7 billion ringgit (about $15.4 billion) by the Mubadala Development Co. of Abu Dhabi in the Kuala Lumpur International Financial District (KLIFD) and the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy, a project designed to accelerate development in Sarawak state. Development of the KLIFD was intended to make Malaysia the world leader in Islamic finance and to attract international banks from Europe and the United States. In July PSA Peugeot Citroën signed a deal with Malaysia’s Naza to begin assembling cars in Malaysia in 2011, the third such collaboration between the two companies. In August Volkswagen and DRB-HICOM, one of Malaysia’s largest car importers and distributors, announced an agreement to manufacture and assemble cars in Malaysia, beginning in 2012.

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Religious strife erupted in Malaysia in January following a decision by the High Court on the last day of 2009 that overturned a government ban on use by Roman Catholics of the term Allah for God in the Malay-language edition of their main newspaper. Several Muslim leaders maintained that the word Allah should be used only by Muslims and that its use by Christians could trick some...

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